Saw stationary spots, but gone now!

[Kris Y]

I am a 30 y/o female police officer and athlete in great health.  Three days ago, I was at the end of an intense 3-week defensive tactics trainer's course, and was put through a tactical simulation drill in which I was put under an extreme degree of strain/stress - involving fighting on the ground with someone on top of me, taking punches/hits, etc.  This drill lasted approximately 4 minutes total, and left all of us students completely exhausted.  The drill room was completely dark except for a blue rotating police car lightbar.  When I exited the dark room, I'm sure my blood pressure and heart rate were through the roof given the situation and what I'd just been through.  My eyes were bloodshot, and I felt as though I had been "locked down" in a valsalva maneuver throughout the drill.  I also noticed a gray crescent/circular "spot" in my field of view in the upper temporal corners of both eyes. I sat down and got my heart rate and BP down, and tried to relax.  About 10-15 minutes later, the two spots (one in each eye) were gone, and I had what seemed to be a far-away, non-severe headache in my temples, nose and eye orbitals - almost like a little eye strain headache.  I asked others in the class, and many folks said that they "were seeing stars" upon finishing the drill.  I contacted my eye doctor's office back home (I'm still out of town in training...), and will see him upon my return for dilation and retinal photos.  Could the strain of my going through the drill have caused this temporary phenomenon?  I am a worrier by nature, but have been very upset by this occurrence - thinking this is everything from a TIA to an aneurysm to a stroke!  I am highly myopic (-9.00 L, -11.00 R), and have had completely normal eye exams/retinal pictures/blind spot tests as of January of this year.  I also had a brain MRI in late 2006 as a "rule out" for occipital stress headaches.  It came back completely normal.  I certainly do appreciate your time and thank you for reading my question.

[Forum-OD-MP]

'Could the strain of my going through the drill have caused this temporary phenomenon?'

yes.  highly probable IMO.

'thinking this is everything from a TIA to an aneurysm to a stroke!'

well, those are all technically possible, but highly, highly unlikely IMO given the symptoms you listed.  tia, aneurysm, stroke and retinal detachment all usually have symptoms in ONE EYE (yours was both) and symptoms that dont go away (your did), and more/different symptoms than you listed.

i think you're probably fine.  your symptoms match your circumstances.  keep your appt with your local eye care professional.  if you have more symptoms between now and that appointment, THEN you can start worrying and see an eye care professional sooner.  but if the only symptoms you had were those that you listed above, and they fully resolved and have not recurred since the incident, then i personally think you are probably fine.

[aimee37]

This sounds to me like an entoptic phenomenon. No big deal. Doubt it's a stroke, TIA or any other serious eye/neurological pathology... If this was a recurrent problem, it would certainly be more alarming.

[aimee37]

Thank you so much for your responses!  Knock-on-wood, I have not had a reoccurrence of these stationary upper temporal spots.  When this happened, the spots did not move when I blinked - they were stationary in the upper, outer corners of my eyes, and were gray, opaque, and somewhat circular.  I differentiated them from floaters, as is was one spot per eye and they were uniform in appearance and location (i.e., the spot in the left eye was a mirror image of that in my right).  

Granted, I was on the ground straining and protecting myself via a valsalva maneuveur for 4 minutes in semi-darkness, but I wonder what causes this kind of reaction...  What happens in the brain/eyes when you're completely exhausted and straining to cause something like this?

All the best,

Kristen

[aimee37]

"What happens in the brain/eyes when you're completely exhausted and straining to cause something like this?"

blood flow changes.  either low blood flow from choking, etc or high pressure form elevated BP, etc.